Written by

Jon Spencer

CentralOhio.com

For the first time since 1935 — when the Ohio State-Michigan football rivalry was given proper respect by moving it to the final game of the regular season — an even bigger Big Ten showdown looms for the Buckeyes.

Bigger than Michigan? Blasphemy.

If Woody Hayes were alive, he’d treat Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany’s head like a yard-marker.

Welcome to the crazy money era of conference expansion and the college football playoff. Think of these next two weekends as a trial run for the four-team extravaganza coming next season.

Think of this 110th clash between Ohio State and Michigan as a national semifinal and next week’s Big Ten Championship against Michigan State as the national title game.

One problem: Michigan always has been the cherry on top, not the whipped cream.

There always had been a month after playing Michigan to recharge the batteries and build back up to another emotional and physical crescendo for a January bowl game.

Those days are gone.

If the Buckeyes beat the Wolverines, their national championship hopes will be on the line in Indianapolis against the Spartans. Even if Michigan pulls the upset, Ohio State will be playing Michigan State for a Rose Bowl berth.

“Surprisingly, I don’t think it will be difficult at all,” center Corey Linsley said of the back-to-back gauntlet. “We’ve got a motive, or a mindset, to just focus on this week — as we’ve done every week. Our mindset this week is all lasers focused on one dot, and that dot is (Michigan). It truly is.”

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer is well-versed in these 14-day challenges. Three times at Florida, his Gators played Florida State and the SEC Championship on back-to-back weekends. It happened in 2006 and 2008, with the Gators going on to win BCS titles both years, and again in 2009 when a back-end loss to eventual national champion Alabama ruined Florida’s bid for a third crystal football in four years.

“I don’t want to say it’s awful, but you talk about blowing out your staff and our players and then (you throw in) finals week and those type of things our players are dealing with right now,” Meyer said. “So our focus is on (Michigan), but we know what’s coming.

“You have to be so disciplined in the way you practice, and I’m going to warn our coaches and warn myself about sleep (and) taking care of yourself, because these next two weeks are going to be brutal.”

Michigan is laboring through a second consecutive mediocre season under Brady Hoke, with no semblance of a running attack and a quarterback who is a turnover waiting to happen. But the Buckeyes insist there will be no looking ahead.

And no chance of them holding anything back so their energy stores aren’t depleted for Michigan State.

“This (game with Michigan) is its own season; everything else is out the window ... everything we’ve done and haven’t done,” safety C.J. Barnett said. “It’s all about this week.”

Barnett will worry about recuperating afterward.

“We’re all young guys,” he said. “We’ll be all right.”

Former Ohio State fullback Pete Johnson, a battering ram in the 1970s, thinks so, too.

“I think it will be easy (to play the two Michigan schools back-to-back) because your frame of mind is still in the ‘kick butt’ mode,” Johnson said. “I think (playing Michigan first) will help.

“This team here is all about going undefeated. This is the most awesome team I’ve seen in a long time. This team is so much better than I realized. You’ve got 100 guys who are totally focused.”

When the Big Ten added its own championship two years ago, I became a proponent of moving Ohio State-Michigan to the first week of the conference season — copying NASCAR, which kicks off its season with the Daytona 500.

I contend it’s too hard to maintain an emotional peak for 14 days, especially at the end of a long season. Ohio State and Michigan always will be at a disadvantage in a conference title game, coming off a rivalry game.

This weekend is a perfect example. You can’t convince me Michigan State will be making the same emotional investment against Minnesota. That’s got to help the Spartans’ case next week.

But former linebacker James Cotton isn’t worried. A motivational speaker based in Columbus, Cotton sees no reason why his services would be required by the Buckeyes next week.

“I guarantee they’ll have something left for the Big Ten Championship game,” he said. “I don’t think the fact they’re playing one extra game will affect them emotionally, physically or spiritually. I just think it will be a great opportunity for the guys to showcase, hey, we beat up on Michigan and we’re going to go beat up on Sparty.”